Oregon’s chips task force says the state is courting an advanced lithography research center, drawing on the $280 billion CHIPS Act legislation President Joe Biden signed last week.
The state’s chip industry task force, a powerhouse assemblage of political and business leaders, said in a report issued Wednesday it hopes Intel would anchor the research project and help attract billions of dollars in additional private and public investment.
The task force says the initial funding could come from $2 billion set aside in the $280 billion CHIPS Act to develop a National Semiconductor Technology Center. Politicians from across the country have been campaigning for a share of those research dollars, meaning the federal technology center may operate in multiple states instead of one central location.
“If successful, regional location of an advanced lithography focused NSTC hub would draw billions of federal investments to Oregon and serve to significantly increase the level of industry interest and investment here,” the task force writes.
Intel says it’s pursuing the idea but that it’s premature to say whether the center would be eligible for CHIPS Act money. Lisa Malloy, head of Intel’s government communications, said the company is awaiting guidance from the U.S. Commerce Department on how the Biden administration will allocate the funding.
“We couldn’t identify at this stage if we would apply for funding for a specific project until we get this guidance,” Malloy said.
Lithography tools project ultraviolet light onto photosensitive material on silicon wafers to create a pattern. Chipmakers then etch away the material that hasn’t been exposed to the light, creating a pattern for a computer chip’s microscopic circuitry.
A new class of manufacturing tool, called extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), enables much smaller patterning on silicon wafers –thereby creating more powerful and efficient computer chips. Intel was slower than some of its rivals to adopt EUV, which is one key reason the company lost its technological leadership.
Eager to avoid repeating its mistakes, CEO Pat Gelsinger has committed Intel to being among the first to use future generations of EUV tools. The company is crafting new chip designs with the more advanced technology in mind.
It could take months for the Biden administration to write the funding rules for the CHIPS Act, though, and it’s unclear how much longer it might take to determine which projects are eligible.
On Wednesday, though, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said Oregon’s concentration of advanced semiconductor research work makes it likely the state will ultimately land some of those federal research dollars.
“The fabs that are being built in America depend on what’s going on in Oregon,” Wyden said. “The research and development focus that we have had is one of the reasons I think we are very well positioned to get one of these technology centers.”
-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | 503-294-7699 | twitter: @rogoway |
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